Stubbs, The Cat Mayor Of A Small Alaskan Town, Dies After 20 Years On The Job

Democracy has suffered a great loss today. A politician who served his people for 20 years has unfortunately left us. That public servant is Stubbs the cat. In 1997, Stubbs was elected as "mayor" of the small town of Talkeetna, Alaska.

Mayor Stubbs represented the town for 20 years, even after an assassination attempt in 2013, when Stubbs was attacked by a dog and left with a punctured lung, a fractured sternum and a five-inch wound on his side.

Sadly, Mayor Stubbs went to bed on Thursday and died peacefully in his sleep, with his family announcing the news on Sunday night. 

In a statement, the family wrote:

"Stubbs lived for 20 years and 3 months. He was a trooper until the very last day of his life; meowing at us throughout the day to pet him or to come sit on the bed with him and let him snuggle and purr for hours in our lap. Thank you, Stubbs, for coming into our lives for the past 31 months; you are a remarkable cat and we will dearly miss you. We loved the time we were allowed to spend with you."

The family explains that as of late 2016, Stubbs had moved from his office at Nagley’s General Store and was spending most of his time at the family home due to ill-health. Though he did have the company of two kittens the family had taken in.

“After a day or two of him giving them the eye and a little growl here and there; they became best friends,” the family wrote. “He got some spunk back playing with kittens. He would even swat at them as they passed and snuggle in his bed with them at night.” 

With Stubbs gone, the title of Mayor has passed to one of the kittens:

“Amazingly, Denali has the exact personality as Stubbs. He loves the attention, he’s like a little puppy when he’s around people. We couldn’t have asked for a better understudy than Denali – he really has followed in Stubbs’ pawprints in just about everything.” 

What a good mayor.